Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented
invention
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an i ...
without permission from the
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a
license
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
. The definition of patent infringement may vary by jurisdiction, but it typically includes using or selling the patented invention. In many countries, a use is required to be ''commercial'' (or to have a ''commercial'' purpose) to constitute patent infringement.
The scope of the patented invention or the extent of protection is defined in the
claims of the granted patent. In other words, the terms of the claims inform the public of what is not allowed without the permission of the patent holder.
Patents are territorial, and infringement is only possible in a country where a patent is in force. For example, if a patent is granted in the United States, then anyone in the United States is prohibited from making, using, selling or importing the patented item, while people in other countries may be free to exploit the patented invention in their country. The scope of protection may vary from country to country, because the patent is examined – or in some countries not substantively examined – by the
patent office in each country or region and may be subject to different
patentability
Within the context of a national or multilateral body of law, an invention is patentable if it meets the relevant legal conditions to be granted a patent. By extension, patentability also refers to the substantive conditions that must be met fo ...
requirements.
Overview
Typically, a party (other than the patentee or licensee of the patentee) that manufactures, imports, uses, sells, or offers for sale patented technology without permission/license from the patentee, during the term of the patent and within the country that issued the patent, is considered to infringe the patent.
The test varies from country to country, but in general it requires that the infringing party's product (or method, service, and so on) falls within one or more of the
claims
Claim may refer to:
* Claim (legal)
* Claim of Right Act 1689
* Claims-based identity
* Claim (philosophy)
* Land claim
* A ''main contention'', see conclusion of law
* Patent claim
* The assertion of a proposition; see Douglas N. Walton
* A righ ...
of the patent. The process employed involves "reading" a claim onto the technology of interest. If all of the claim's elements are found in the technology, the claim is said to "read on" the technology; if a single element from the claim is missing from the technology, the claim does not literally read on the technology and the technology generally does not infringe the patent with respect to that claim, except if the
doctrine of equivalents
The doctrine of equivalents is a legal rule in many (but not all) of the world's patent systems that allows a court to hold a party liable for patent infringement even though the infringing device or process does not fall within the literal scope ...
is considered applicable.
In response to allegations of infringement, an accused infringing party typically asserts one or more of the following:
* that it was not practicing the patented invention, i.e. the invention claimed in the patent (the claims define the extent of protection conferred by a patent);
* that it was not performing any infringing act in the territory covered by the patent (patents are indeed territorial in nature);
* that the patent has expired (since patents have a limited
patent term The term of a patent is the maximum time during which it can be maintained in force. It is usually expressed in a number of years either starting from the filing date of the patent application or from the date of grant of the patent. In most patent ...
, i.e. a limited lifetime);
* that the patent (or the particular claim(s) alleged to be infringed) is invalid, because the invention in question does not meet the
patentability
Within the context of a national or multilateral body of law, an invention is patentable if it meets the relevant legal conditions to be granted a patent. By extension, patentability also refers to the substantive conditions that must be met fo ...
requirements or includes a formal defect, this rendering the patent invalid or unenforceable;
* that it has obtained a license under the patent.
The parties may also resolve their dispute in a
settlement
Settlement may refer to:
*Human settlement, a community where people live
*Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building
* Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction
*Settlement (fin ...
, which may involve a licensing agreement, such as a
cross-licensing A cross-licensing agreement is a contract between two or more parties where each party grants rights to their intellectual property to the other parties.
Patent law
In patent law, a cross-licensing agreement is an agreement according to which two ...
agreement. Private settlements may not always serve the
public interest
The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society.
Overview
Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore ...
, "because litigating patent disputes to completion tends to generate positive externalities, by clarifying the limits of patent protection if the patent is upheld or encouraging wider use of the innovation if the patent is invalidated".
Indirect infringement
In certain jurisdictions, there is a particular case of patent infringement called "indirect infringement." Indirect infringement can occur, for instance, when a device is claimed in a patent and a third party supplies a product which can only be reasonably used to make the claimed device.
Legislation
Australia
In Australia, a patent infringement occurs when a person, who is not the patentee, exploits or authorises another person to exploit the patent in question.
'Exploit' in this context includes:
*(i) Make, hire, sell or otherwise dispose of a patented product; or
*(ii) Offer to make, sell, hire or otherwise dispose of a patented product; or
*(iii) Use or import a patented product; or
*(iv) Keep it for the purposes of doing (i), (ii) or (iii); or
*(v) Use a patented method or process; or
*(vi) Do any act mentioned from (i) to (iv) above in respect of a product resulting from the use of a patented method or process.
Canada
In
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
patents
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
are governed by the
Patent Act
Patent Act and Patents Act (with their variations) are stock short titles used in Canada, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States for legislation relating to patents.
A Patent Act is a country's legislation that con ...
, and the rights of a patent holder are summarized at s. 42:
By granting the patent holder the exclusive right, privilege and liberty of making, constructing, using, and selling the invention, the Act establishes that any other person making, constructing, using, or selling the patented invention is infringing that patent. Whether there has been an infringement of a patent is usually a
question of fact In law, a question of law, also known as a point of law, is a question that must be answered by applying relevant legal principles to interpretation of the law. Such a question is distinct from a question of fact, which must be answered by reference ...
.
Canada is considered to be more friendly for rights holders in pursuing patent claims than in the United States, due to significant differences between the two jurisdictions:
:* Patents in Canada are subject to a
purposive construction, which relies on reading both the claims and the specifications to determine the scope of a patent, and
extrinsic evidence
In science and engineering, an intrinsic property is a property of a specified subject that exists itself or within the subject. An extrinsic property is not essential or inherent to the subject that is being characterized. For example, mass ...
is not permitted, leading to the absence of
prosecution history estoppel
Prosecution history estoppel, also known as file-wrapper estoppel, is a term used to indicate that a person who has filed a patent application, and then makes narrowing amendments to the application to accommodate the patent law, may be precluded ...
.
:* While US patent trials are heard by a jury, Canadian trials are heard by a judge only, and thus the claims of a Canadian patent are construed only once as part of the trial judge's decision on the merits of the case as a whole. In that regard, the
Federal Court of Appeal
The Federal Court of Appeal (french: Cour d'appel fédérale) is a Canadian appellate court that hears cases concerning federal matters.
History
Section 101 of the Constitution Act, 1867 empowers the Parliament of Canada to establish "addit ...
has ruled that
Markman hearing
A ''Markman'' hearing is a pretrial hearing in a U.S. District Court during which a judge examines evidence from all parties on the appropriate meanings of relevant key words used in a patent claim, when patent infringement is alleged by a pl ...
s are not allowed under Canadian law.
:* In Canada, the applicant has no obligation to disclose material
prior art
Prior art (also known as state of the art or background art) is a concept in patent law used to determine the patentability of an invention, in particular whether an invention meets the novelty and the inventive step or non-obviousness criteria f ...
, so patents cannot be invalidated on that basis.
:* The same absence of obligation also means that the ''
Competition Act
The ''Competition Act'' is a Canadian federal law governing competition law in Canada. The Act contains both Criminal law of Canada, criminal and Civil law (common law), civil provisions aimed at preventing anti-competitive practices in the econ ...
'' will not come into play, unlike what occurs with
antitrust law
Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...
in the US.
:* The Canadian
discovery process
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discovery ...
is more streamlined than the US procedure, resulting in less cost and time in pursuing the lawsuit, and it also possesses an
implied undertaking rule, barring use of information produced or disclosed in discovery from any purpose other than the present litigation (other than by leave of the court).
:* Canadian law allows a plaintiff to elect to claim either
compensatory damages
At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
or an
accounting of profits
An account of profits (sometimes referred to as an ''accounting for profits'' or simply an ''accounting'') is a type of equitable remedy most commonly used in cases of breach of fiduciary duty. It is an action taken against a defendant to recover ...
, which can either act as a deterrent on infringement or as an incentive to reach a settlement before trial.
:* The availability of
costs
In production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which ...
in Canadian courts is a significant advantage to a plaintiff confident of success, but is also a deterrent to pursuing more speculative cases.
:*
Treble damages
In United States law, treble damages is a term that indicates that a statute permits a court to triple the amount of the actual/compensatory damages to be awarded to a prevailing plaintiff. Treble damages are a multiple of, and not an addition to ...
are not awarded in Canadian courts, and
punitive damages
Punitive damages, or exemplary damages, are damages assessed in order to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct and/or to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit. ...
are less likely to be awarded.
Europe
In
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, patent infringement of both national patents and
European patents
The European Patent Convention (EPC), also known as the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to w ...
are essentially dealt upon by national courts. Although European patents are granted by the
European Patent Office
The European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the organisation , these European patents lead are enforced at a national level, i.e. on a per-country basis. A majority of the member states of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
have agreed to set up a
unitary patent
The European patent with unitary effect, also known as the unitary patent, is a European patent which will benefit from unitary effect in the participating member states of the European Union. Unitary effect may be requested by the proprieto ...
(formerly called
Community patent
The European patent with unitary effect, also known as the unitary patent, is a European patent which will benefit from unitary effect in the participating member states of the European Union. Unitary effect may be requested by the proprietor ...
) system, according to which patents would be centrally enforceable before a
Unified Patent Court
The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is a common patent court open for participation of member states of the European Union, and created by the "Agreement on a Unified Patent Court" (UPC Agreement or UPCA), which is provisionally applicable since 19 ...
. However, the corresponding legal texts have not entered into force yet.
India
The Indian Patents Act 1970 does not specifically define activities that constitute infringement of patents. However, the following acts are deemed to be infringements according to the Patent Act:
:* Mechanical equivalents;
:* Carrying essential features of the invention;
:* Immaterial variation in the invention; and
:* The colorable imitation of the invention.
Japan
Infringement under the patent law in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
is defined by Article 101 of Patent Act (Act No. 121 of 1959), which shows the following acts shall be deemed to constitute infringement of a patent right or an exclusive license:
* (i) where a patent has been granted for an invention of a product, acts of producing, assigning, etc., importing or offering for assignment, etc. any product to be used exclusively for the producing of the said product as a business;
* (ii) where a patent has been granted for an invention of a product, acts of producing, assigning, etc., importing or offering for assignment, etc. any product (excluding those widely distributed within Japan) to be used for the producing of the said product and indispensable for the resolution of the problem by the said invention as a business, knowing that the said invention is a patented invention and the said product is used for the working of the invention;
* (iii) where a patent has been granted for an invention of a process, acts of producing, assigning, etc., importing or offering for assignment, etc. any product to be used exclusively for the use of the said process as a business; and
* (iv) where a patent has been granted for an invention of a process, acts of producing, assigning, etc., importing or offering for assignment, etc. any product (excluding those widely distributed within Japan) to be used for the use of the said process and indispensable for the resolution of the problem by the said invention, knowing that the said invention is a patented invention and the said product is used for the working of the invention as a business.
United Kingdom
Infringement under
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
patent law is defined b
Section 60of th
UK Patents Act 1977(as amended), which sets out the following types of infringement:
* Where the invention is a product, by the making, disposing of, offering to dispose of, using, importing or keeping a patented product.
* Where the invention is a process, by the use, or offer for use where it is known that the use of the process would be an infringement. Also, by the disposal of, offer to dispose of, use or import of a product obtained directly by means of that process, or the keeping of any such product whether for disposal or otherwise.
* By the supply, or offer to supply, in the United Kingdom, a person not entitled to work the invention, with any of the means, relating to an essential element of the invention, for putting the invention into effect, when it is known (or it is reasonable to expect such knowledge) that those means are suitable for putting, and are intended to put, the invention into effect in the United Kingdom.
United States
In United States law, an infringement may occur where the defendant has made, used, sold, offered to sell, or imported an infringing
invention
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an i ...
or its
equivalent
Equivalence or Equivalent may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Album-equivalent unit, a measurement unit in the music industry
* Equivalence class (music)
*'' Equivalent VIII'', or ''The Bricks'', a minimalist sculpture by Carl Andre
*''Equiva ...
.
One also commits indirect infringement if he actively and knowingly induces another to infringe, and is liable for that infringement. Types of "indirect infringement" include "contributory infringement" and "induced infringement."
No infringement action may be started until the patent is issued. However, pre-grant protection is available under (d), which allows a patent owner to obtain reasonable royalty damages for certain infringing activities that occurred before patent's date of issuance. This right to obtain provisional damages requires a patent holder to show that (1) the infringing activities occurred after the publication of the patent application, (2) the patented claims are substantially identical to the claims in the published application, and (3) the infringer had "actual notice" of the published patent application.
In the US there are
safe harbor provisions to use a patented invention for the purposes of
gathering data for a regulatory submission.
Clearance searches and opinions
A clearance search, also called freedom-to-operate (FTO) search or infringement search, is a search done on issued patents or on pending
patent application
A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for an invention described in the patent specification and a set of one or more claims stated in a formal document, including necessary official forms and re ...
s to determine if a product or process infringes any of the
claims of the issued patents or pending patent applications. A clearance search may also include expired art that acts as a 'safe harbor' permitting the product or process to be used based on patents in the public domain. These searches are often performed by one or more professional patent searchers who are under the direction of one or more
patent attorney
A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing patent applications and op ...
s.
Clearance searches may also be performed on a regular basis (e.g., monthly) if an individual is concerned about patenting activity in a particular industry or with respect to a particular product.
A clearance search can be followed by a ''clearance opinion'', i.e. a legal opinion provided by one or more patent attorneys as to whether a given product or process infringes the claims of one or more issued patents or pending patent applications. Clearance opinions may be done in combination with a "validity and enforceability" opinion. A validity and enforceability opinion is a legal opinion as to whether a given patent is valid and/or enforceable. In other words, a ''validity opinion'' is a legal opinion or letter in which a patent attorney or patent agent analyzes an issued patent and provides an opinion on how a court might rule on its validity or enforceability. Validity opinions are often sought before litigation related to a patent. The average cost of a validity opinion (according to one 2007 survey) is over $15,000, with an infringement analysis adding $13,000.
The cost of these opinions for U.S. patents can run from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) depending upon the particular patent, the number of defenses and prior art references, the length of the prosecution file history, and the complexity of the technology in question.
An ''exculpatory opinion'' (setting forth reasons the patent is not infringed, or providing other defenses such as prior use, intervening rights, or prior invention) is also possible.
Patent infringement insurance
Patent infringement insurance is an
insurance
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
policy provided by one or more insurance companies to protect either an
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
or a third party from the risks of inadvertently infringing a patent.
In June 2006, a Study for the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
on the feasibility of possible insurance schemes against patent litigation risks was published. The report concluded that the continuation of the status quo with very little, disproportionately expensive, bespoke patent litigation insurance (PLI) would not meet any objectives for a feasible insurance scheme. Instead, only a mandatory scheme was considered to be viable in order to provide the economic and technical benefits to the EU and individual patentees which would arise from a widespread PLI scheme.
"Piracy"
Since the 1840s, the expression "patent pirate" has been used as a
pejorative
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
term to describe those that infringe a patent and refuse to acknowledge the priority of the
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
.
Samuel F. B. Morse
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...
, inventor of the
telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
, for example, complained in a letter to friend in 1848
The term "pirate" has also been used to describe patent owners that vigorously enforce their patents. Thus whether one deliberately infringes a patent or whether one vigorously enforces a patent, they may be referred to as a pirate by those that feel they are overstepping their bounds.
Threat to bring a patent infringement action
"A threat to bring a patent infringement action is highly likely to influence the commercial conduct of the person threatened, which is why the law of some countries, including the UK, provides that the making of a groundless threat to sue is, within certain carefully prescribed limits, an actionable wrong in itself."
Jeremy Phillips
Jeremy Phillips (born 25 December 1951jeremyphillips.blogspot.com. Consulted on March 24, 2007.) is a retired British academic, author, editor, publisher, and commentator in intellectual property (IP) law.Ben Moshinsky''Olswang returns to Slaught ...
''From when must a threat be compensated?''
IPKat
IPKat is a law blog founded in June 2003, and dedicated to intellectual property law (IP) with a focus on European law.Alex Newson, Deryck Houghton, Justin Patten, ''Blogging and other social media: exploiting the technology and protecting the ent ...
, June 14, 2008. Consulted on June 15, 2008. This however is not the case in the United States.
See also
*
Anton Piller order
In English and English-derived legal systems, an Anton Piller order (frequently misspelled ''Anton Pillar order'') is a court order that provides the right to search premises and seize evidence without prior warning. This is intended to prevent t ...
(common procedure in certain countries to obtain proofs of infringement)
*
Cease and desist order
A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...
*
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
*
Divided infringement
*
Industrial espionage
Industrial espionage, economic espionage, corporate spying, or corporate espionage is a form of espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of purely national security.
While political espionage is conducted or orchestrated by governmen ...
*
Inequitable conduct
In United States patent law, inequitable conduct is a breach of the applicant's duty of candor and good faith during patent prosecution or similar proceedings by misrepresenting or omitting materiality (law), material information with the specific ...
*
Patent court
A patent court is a court specializing in patent law, or having substantially exclusive jurisdiction over patent law issues. In some systems, such courts also have jurisdiction over other areas of intellectual property law, such as copyright and tr ...
*
Patent retaliation
Opposition to software patents is widespread in the free software community. In response, various mechanisms have been tried to defuse the perceived problem.
Positions from the community
Community leaders such as Richard Stallman, Alan Cox, B ...
(clause)
*
Smartphone patent licensing and litigation
*
Saisie-contrefaçon Under French law, the ''saisie-contrefaçon'' is a means of proof of the infringement and, more generally, any violation of an intellectual property right. This procedure permits the holder of the intellectual property right, upon receiving the au ...
*
Soft IP
*
Software hoarding
Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose, ...
*
Stick licensing
Stick licensing is the practice of licensing a patent or other form of intellectual property where the patent holder threatens to sue the licensee for patent infringement if the licensee does not take a license. In contrast to the stick licensing, ...
Notable infringement cases
* ''
Monsanto Canada Inc. v. Schmeiser
''Monsanto Canada Inc v Schmeiser'' 0041 S.C.R. 902, 2004 SCC 34 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada case on patent rights for biotechnology, between a Canadian canola farmer, Percy Schmeiser, and the agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto. ...
'' - A Canadian farmer sued for growing canola seed patented by Monsanto.
* ''
Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
''Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronic Co., Ltd.'' was the first of a series of ongoing lawsuits between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics regarding the design of smartphones and tablet computers; between them, the companies made more than half of s ...
''
* ''
Microsoft Corp. v. Motorola Inc.
''Microsoft Corp. v. Motorola Inc.'', 696 F.3d 872 (9th Cir. 2012) was a United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit case about Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (RAND) Licensing and foreign anti-suit injunction.
The case was origina ...
''
* ''
Immersion v. Sony
In 2002, Sony and Microsoft were sued by Immersion for patent infringement for the use of vibration functions in their gaming controllers. Specifically, they were accused of infringing on claims in and (filed 2000 and 2001 as extensions of , i ...
''
References
Further reading
* Kesan, Jay P. and Ball, Gwendolyn G., ''How Are Patent Cases Resolved? An Empirical Examination of the Adjudication and Settlement of Patent Disputes'' (2005)
University of Illinois Law & Economics Research Paper*
* Se
For the Federal Circuits most recent opinion regarding claim construction (United States patent law).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patent Infringement
Infringement, patent
Intellectual property infringement